Tag Archives: Black women

The recent story below is about a woman with the widest recorded hip diameter known. It’s a headline which raises another major question in our community.

What size should the ideal attractive woman be? This question has varied by culture and times. Traditionally, the view has it that Black and Hispanic cultures view curvy and voluptuous shapes as more attractive, especially when those curves on on the lower half the body. This might be most famously summarized by his heinous, Sir Mix O’lot:

But White and Asian cultures are thought to see a more slender shape as ideal. I don’t really know how long that has been true for White Western cultures though. It could very well be connected with the improvements in health care and living standards over the past 50 years, making wide hips and a good amount of body fat no longer necessary for surviving child birth, cold weather, and food shortages. But if you look at the classic White pin up girls and icons of beauty before 1960, they were all curvy women:

Even ancient ideals of beauty in these cultures involved curvy women:

Interestingly though, starting in the 90’s. because of the impact of Hip Hop on White culture I believe, this ideal began to change.Suddenly, having a curvy rear end went from something to be ashamed of and avoided to being embraced as attractive, as represented by this country music video below by Trace Adkins (yes I managed to put Sir Mix O’lot and Trace Adkins in the same post):

But is there a point where too much jiggle can be bad for health? While I’m not going to say what anyone’s ideal body type should be, we all need to make sure that we are being physically active and doing good things for our heart. Fried, sweetened, and processed foods have been scientifically proven to be bad for our overall health. You can be a very curvy woman and still regularly exercise, and many do. So my concern isn’t rather the plus sized model is attractive or not, as many men will find her to be. And I do think it’s great that she is all about self-esteem and feeling good. Weight gain and body proportions are as much related to genetics as they are by behavior so we all should keep that in mind when we see people with unusual sizes. But being a Black woman in a culture in which rear end size is celebrated, the story does open a path to further discussion on health versus size. Women ultimately should do what’s best for their health and not worry about any ideas of what’s beautiful or not. We need to push this instead of the idea that simply having curves but not exercising and eating well is okay. It might be okay in the short term but will be devastating long term. Other than that, everyone’s body is unique and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

One of the gossip sites I sometimes visit had a picture of Barak whispering something to Beyonce from the inauguration. Of course the headline encouraged readers to let their imaginations go wild.

And the readers did just that. There were many, many Black women who were making comments saying they wouldn’t blame Beyonce for going after Barak because he was very desirable..okay sexy. I do believe this is a common viewpoint, though certainly not exclusive to Black women either. What comes out of all this is something remarkable? I looked at a number of sites listing most attractive or desirable Black men, and all were entertainers (singers, actors) or athletes except for Barak Obama. Without the presidency, Barak would at best be considered handsome in the professor type of handsome but certainly nowhere near anyone’s most desirable or sexy list. There are three ways men tend to become very desirable: fame, wealth, or power. Of course Obama has the fame but I think he might be the first Black man to be desirable purely on the position of power. The way he is able to command an audience with the power of words while dressing impeccably well and yielding great authority is something new in our culture.

I know I’m thinking big scale, but I think Barak can have a huge impact on our community going beyond his presidency. As more young Black women look at Obama as this handsome, educated, provider who is proud to be there for his kids, what they start seeking in men might improve. Suddenly, having an education, not having your pants down around your knees, knowing how to talk and present yourself, and being responsible might be the type of man being chased instead of Joe Thug with the bling and the rims. And men are funny creatures. We adapt to get the girl. If women raise their standard, men will raise theirs. But as long as young men can act like clowns and be about criminal activities and have a large percentage of women chasing after them, they have no incentive to change. Maybe this will ultimately be the Hope and Change Obama promised.